Palestinians

This surprisingly candid BBC Panorama documentary lays out the events surrounding the Mavi Marmara Turkish Flotilla designed to break the Gaza blockade, and the Israeli seizure of the ship.

The facts are presented with compelling video evidence and they are quite damning, but not for Israel as the media onslaught portrayed. Rather for the organizers, Turkey, and the IHH (now designated a terrorist supporting entity by Germany).

We learn..

The Organizers were prepared to break the siege at all costs, sanctioned violence.

Islamists seized the Ship before Israel arrived.

Islamists prepared for martyrdom, violence, and an assault on the IDF.

Turkey was complicit.

The so called AID was a farce, cover for a violent confrontation.

The IHH set out to create a staged media disaster against Israel.

Hundreds of passengers were used as pawns.

Islamists sought to 1st lynch, then murder IDF troops.

Here is the video in 2 parts

Part 1

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Part 2

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The world rushed to judgment

But as usual the real story is a familiar one. Radical Islam, terrorists, violence, lies, manipulation.

Costello published a letter on his official website, in which he apologized to his fans and explained the reasons behind the cancellation. The Israeli production company organizing the event has yet to comment.

Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat criticized Costello for calling off his concerts, saying that “an artist boycotting his fans in Israel is unworthy of performing here.” [...]

So sayeth Costello..

“I hope it is possible to understand that I am not taking this decision lightly or so I may stand beneath any banner, nor is it one in which I imagine myself to possess any unique or eternal truth. I cannot imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, which is a matter of regret but I can imagine a better time when I would not be writing this,” He concluded.

Costello’s wife, Jazz singer Diana Krall is also scheduled to perform in Israel in the near future. It is still unclear whether Costello’s decision will also have an effect on her visit to the Jewish state

Of course, Mr. Costello had no problem booking the shows and selling the tickets taking Israelis hard earned cash to fatten up his wallet before he was pressured by his Irish Israel hating pals into canceling his concerts as a ‘matter of conscience’, which makes him pitiful on top of nearly irrelevant musically as far as I’m concerned. The whole notion that Israel should be boycotted is itself too absurd to even broach, let alone on behalf of a people ruled by Hamas who routinely slit their own daughters’ throats for ‘embarrassing the family honor’ by showing off an ankle, or perhaps falling in love. These are the same folks who would seek to ban all music like the Taliban because it is ‘contrary to the will of the prophet muhammad’ and his religion of oppression.

Will his wife Diana Krall also cancel? After all Israel is only one of the most progressive countries on earth, with women in senior government & public positions, free elections, free judiciary, free press.. One could go on but we are too busy preparing for the massive Metallica shows which are about to rock our little country in 10 days.. Elvis who!?

Here’s an AISH video on Israel, to better understand the terrible evil country Costello feels the need to boycott..

He describes in the lengthy worthy piece how US policy & Peace Processing has become a religion for American bureaucrats & political leaders, a religion he formerly practiced but now no longer believes in..

Like all religions, the peace process has developed a dogmatic creed, with immutable first principles. Over the last two decades, I wrote them hundreds of times to my bosses in the upper echelons of the State Department and the White House; they were a catechism we all could recite by heart. First, pursuit of a comprehensive peace was a core, if not the core, U.S. interest in the region, and achieving it offered the only sure way to protect U.S. interests; second, peace could be achieved, but only through a serious negotiating process based on trading land for peace; and third, only America could help the Arabs and Israelis bring that peace to fruition.

He describes how these concepts have become immovable dogmas of the religion, and how Obama has thrown himself full force into becoming a believer, pursuing them with zeal. The problem is, Miller no longer carries the faith..

Today, I couldn’t write those same memos or anything like them with a clear conscience or a straight face. Although many experts’ beliefs haven’t changed, the region has, and dramatically, becoming nastier and more complex. U.S. priorities and interests, too, have changed. The notion that there’s a single or simple fix to protecting those interests, let alone that Arab-Israeli peace would, like some magic potion, bullet, or elixir, make it all better, is just flat wrong. In a broken, angry region with so many problems — from stagnant, inequitable economies to extractive and authoritarian governments that abuse human rights and deny rule of law, to a popular culture mired in conspiracy and denial – it stretches the bounds of credulity to the breaking point to argue that settling the Arab-Israeli conflict is the most critical issue, or that its resolution would somehow guarantee Middle East stability.

Uh oh.. This is contrary to the very pillars Obama & his administration have laid forth in their endless Israel Assault of pressure. Leak after leak, statement after statement, all highlighting how solving the Arab Israeli Palestinian conflict is the most critical puzzle piece, and a top American national priority interest. The statements have been piling up in fact.

The American left wing has gone so far as to frame the life & death of American soldiers themselves as requiring immediate resolution of the problem.. Of course, that is patently absurd. But the left, seizing on the anti-Israel attitude is making ever rising claims of absurdity and the false memes are spreading fanned by a loving it media. All this despite individuals like Petraeus himself stating clearly this is simply not the case, that these memes are false.

We have seen so far the results.. Absurd efforts to define local zoning laws in Israel all the way from Washington D.C.; A pressure campaign to topple Netanyahu; Frigid Israeli American relations; Threats, public dressing downs of foreign leaders; A total fantasy like American eyeball aversion to the Palestinians or their actions, while Israel is routinely blamed for everything under the sun.. No matter, the Obami soldier on as if on Crusade to borrow from Miller’s religious metaphor.

Miller doesn’t see the factors for Peace

He writes that Obama & advisers are trying to manufacture artificially the necessary components for peace and a deal using sheer American will. But that this is an illusion as there are no partners currently, or willingness in the region in order to conclude such a deal irrespective of America’s will, and that in the end this will result in a stunning American failure.

He continues..

Bottom line: Negotiations can work, but both Arabs and Israelis (and American leaders) need to be willing and able to pay the price. And they are not.

Under these circumstances, the refrain from many quarters is that America must save the day. If the Arabs and Israelis are too weak or recalcitrant, then the United States must support and/or push them to make the deal.

Miller chides the administration for making huge errors in the focus on settlements, and questions the logic behind the Obama strategies themselves as they do not lead in any way to a deal or peace, only to expending more & more American political capital without benefit, concluding..

The believers need to re-examine their faith, especially at a moment when America is so stretched and overextended. The United States needs to do what it can, including working with Israelis and Palestinians on negotiating core final-status issues (particularly on borders, where the gaps are narrowest), helping Palestinians develop their institutions, getting the Israelis to assist by allowing Palestinians to breathe economically and expand their authority, and keeping Gaza calm, even as it tries to relieve the desperation and sense of siege through economic assistance. But America should also be aware of what it cannot do, as much as what it can. [...]

In many ways there are subtle & not so subtle jabs at the Obama admin here, the entire religious framework and Yes We Can attitude gets a thorough lashing in Miller’s piece. Time for believers to re-examine the faith, the statement is directed at the Department of State, the NSC & Obama himself and the message is clear enough, cut it out because No We Can’t.

He posited that the Obama administration on the Arab Israeli conflict was not transformational, but transactional – Trying to focus on the dozens of details and seeking endless concessions to iron them out to produce a deal. But, he felt that as tough as the Obama admin may get to wring concessions, they would have to be respectful of Israel & the relationship to succeed.

He stated that listening to Israel would be more important than lecturing Israel in order to notch gains. That American will & opinion matched that of Israeli will & opinion, that the countries identified with each other on a powerful plane, and that Obama would need to proceed cautiously lest he upset that balance..

Off a cliff

We have since seen the admin push this transactional concept to the very edge right along with the US Israel relationship itself, thoroughly disregarding Miller’s warnings. Precisely because they do not listen, they do not respect, and many suspect they do not care about Israel in the least. I would add to Miller’s provocative & interesting piece that not only he, but a great many are now no longer believers..

If you want to know why you need only look at President Obama and his ugly relationship with the State of Israel.

The unfriendly American administration which has perpetuated crisis over settlements and Jerusalem has squandered Israeli trust & faith in its efforts to endlessly court Muslims & the Arab world, all of it at American & Israeli strategic expense as the move to halt Iran flounders.

Palestinians
Polling of Palestinians themselves shows overwhelmingopposition to any Peace or two state solution!

Would accept the creation of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders with a land exchange as a final solution for the Palestinian problem?66.7% against VS 28.3% in favor, and 5% who did not know or did not express an opinion.

Would support division of Jerusalem as a capital of two states?77.4 opposed such a plan VS 20.8% in favor, and 1.8% had no opinion or chose not to express it.

Linkage!?

The Obama administration seems incapable of embracing Arab rejections of peace. Senior Obama officials continue to meet privately in the White House with the radically left American Jewish group Jstreet, with prominent anti Israel figures like Brzezinski, all of it in order to seemingly form policy. Policy that is totally unacceptable in Israel, and is clearly oblivious to both Israeli political & public reality!?

Brezinski may have proposed the latest imposed peace plan, but calling for America to impose a fake plan that delivers no peace, only endless Israeli concesions is long standing policy for far left American groups like Peace Now, J Street etc. Meanwhile, the policy of linking endless Israeli concessions & Palestinian statehood to stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons is alive & well, despite the fact that a prominent proponent of engagement himself has declared this linkage policy to be a serious mistake.

Just how far is President Obama willing to go to accommodate the idea of containing a nuclear Iran, as opposed to stopping one?I mean beyond..

We are headed at full steam toward a massive crisis with America. The most ultra liberal, anti Israel administration in Gd knows how many decades is gearing up to impose a fake peace on Israel, entailing massive concessions.

Despite the fact the administration has gotten pretty much everything wrong on the foreign policy front for the last 1.5 years, this progressive train wreck shows absolutely no sign of slowing. The massive Jerusalem fiasco and concessions were small potatoes according to senior Obama administration sources, and these should be fun times ahead because the entire US Israel relationship is being used as a threat, a tool of so called smart diplomacy.

WASHINGTON — President Obama is “seriously considering” proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to two top administration officials.

“Everyone knows the basic outlines of a peace deal,” said one of the senior officials, citing the agreement that was nearly reached at Camp David in 2000 and in subsequent negotiations. He said that an American plan, if launched, would build upon past progress on such issues as borders, the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. The second senior official said that “90 percent of the map would look the same” as what has been agreed in previous bargaining. [...]

This is change all right..

Every assurance ever issued by the United States of America and her government to Israel is invalidated by the action of Obama imposing a solution. Obama is breaking every agreement the US has ever made with Israel. All agreements made from Oslo, from Camp David II, The Roadmap, agreements from the Gaza withdrawal, agreements from the recent Annapolis process, all the assurances that neither America nor concessions would influence final status talks & issues? All out the door.

If that wasn’t a poor enough display, clearly the say of the Israeli electorate itself carries no meaning either. Shocking how this US administration has stumbled leg over foot to deride the ideals of democracy any way it can, I guess this is par for the new course America is now on. Obama figures he can ram through the American electorate, why not Israel’s as well?

The American peace plan would be linked with the issue of confronting Iran, which is Israel’s top priority, explained the second senior official. He described the issues as two halves of a single strategic problem: “We want to get the debate away from settlements and East Jerusalem and take it to a 30,000-feet level that can involve Jordan, Syria and other countries in the region,” as well as the Israelis and Palestinians.

“Incrementalism hasn’t worked,” continued the second official, explaining that the U.S. cannot simply allow the Palestinian problem to keep festering — providing fodder for Iran and other extremists. “As a global power with global responsibilities, we have to do something.” He said the plan would “take on the absolute requirements of Israeli security and the requirements of Palestinian sovereignty in a way that makes sense.” [...]

Mr Fixit.

That is some of the most frightening kool aid I have ever read and it goes on. Clearly, Obama and his White House no longer even see peace as the goal, probably because they know no deal will deliver it. Israel will have to simply make any and all concessions decreed by Obama, in order to put a stop to this “festering Palestinian problem”. If not, America cannot be relied upon to ‘effectively support Israel versus Iran’.

That’s quite a threat our “good friend Obama” is waving at us. For him Iran developing nuclear weapons and us caving to every single Arab demand are two halves of a whole it seems. Put me down under the “I don’t like the Obama plan” box. I don’t like sacrificing my state or security to satisfy this Palestinian pandering President’s personal desires, and I don’t like having my national time clock dictated to me by Iran. I rather suspect there’s an Israeli government & Israeli majority that feels the same way.

We didn’t vote for this guy you know

Big government and Obama’s amazing negotiating skills are going to solve Syria, Iran, not too mention the whole Global Jihad and deliver peace on earth. Guess who’s paying the bill? Israel. That’s quite a plan! Let’s see which of these 2 options happens first. The Obama plan or the Middle East eating Obama alive.

Israel will not accept a Middle East peace agreement that is forced on it by external forces, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said in private meetings in recent days, sources said Wednesday.

Netanyahu reportedly told close aides that “it won’t work and it won’t be acceptable if a settlement is forced on us,” stressing the need to ensure proper security arrangements as part of any future peace deal.

For that end, the PM reportedly said, Israel would have to retain a military presence along its eastern border with Jordan, adding that any agreement that doesn’t allow for those measure will not be accepted. [...]

Confirmation begins to flow out like sewage how the President of the United States cynically drummed up an artificial crisis, with the ally his administration less than 4 days ago called – ‘The best friend America ever had’. Worse, the President was widely reported personally consulting, instructing & coordinating with Hillary Clinton before her scathing 45 minute scream fest toward Netanyahu. One gathers they were rather busy planning & effectuating this engineered crisis, and Chicago style blackmail campaign.

Don’t you worry, some of his best friends are Jewish.

All of this is clearly designed to squeeze & bleed from Israel yet MORE concessions, in order to shore up the Obama administration’s faltering policies & world view. The President of the United States is frankly endangering the State of Israel playing these games. Let’s be clear, this seems worse than Bush & Baker (Baker while in office at State famously declared “F**k the Jews”), at least then Israel wasn’t being strung up by a noose with an existential military threat.

Reverse building decisions in Jerusalem and implement a freeze, despite previous agreements with the USA that building in Jerusalem would continue.

Make appeasement gestures to the Palestinians who despite an open Israeli invitation for unconditional talks, refuse to negotiate.

Release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, terrorists!

Withdraw IDF defense forces from additional territory in the West Bank!! Transfer control to Palestinians (Endangering Israel is the President’s specialty it seems). All of it without ANY peace deal whatsoever.

End the Quartet endorsed blockade of Terrorist controlled Gaza, territory we just finished having to go to war with and allow Gaza to rearm full force.

Remove yet more security checkpoints and security implements in the West Bank, despite effusive praise from both the USA & Tony Blair over how much Israel had already done in this regard, and glowing praise over how Israel has helped the Palestinian economy flourish.

Issue declarations that indirect talks with the Palestinians who only demand more & more, deal with all the conflict’s core issues including; statehood declaration, borders, refugees, Jerusalem, security, settlements. In other words, enter these indirect talks & allow our GREAT FRIEND President Obama to moderate & impose his own solution – One which will clearly be entirely drafted by the Arab League itself, and hoisted upon Israel’s democracy.

Backstabbing Obama sure to be popular fellow in Israel now..

How can we possibly take the President at his word? His credibility internationally and especially with Israel is borderline near zero. This guy keeps breaking deals with us left, right & center..

The settlement issue (another crisis a few months ago) was the 1st deal Obama broke with us, when he disregarded pledges made by G.W. Bush to Ariel Sharon.

The second deal broken just this week by Obama, was the acknowledgment that Jerusalem would NOT be subject to the and I quote Hillary Clinton: “Unprecedented concession by Israel” to freeze settlements in the West Bank.

Now a third deal has been broken by the President with Israel, regarding the format & substance of the issues to be handled in indirect talks. Israel refused to negotiate core issues by US mediation for what is now obvious reasons.

The President seems to believe the word of the United States of America carries little meaning, no bearing on trust – This is truly heartbreaking for many hundreds of millions around the world who so admire American ideals. Poland learned this, the Czechs learned this, the UK, now Israel knows it too. We are under attack from our #1 ally!? It is bewildering & shocking.

The bludgeon for Obama’s threats?

Vital supplies, jet fuel, & armaments needed to defend Israel from an Iranian multi front war.. This beyond the apparent arms freeze Israel has been under since Obama took office. All of these issues, part & parcel of pledges to Israel made previously to garner our patience regarding a strike on Iran. Now, apparently even the entire American Israel relationship itself is being used as a threat judging by statements from US officials on Sunday shows.

Requests of the Palestinians? The intransigent party who refuses to negotiate? NONE.

The FIRST foreign leader Obama called immediately on his inauguration to the White House? This man here, Mahmoud Abbas! Not UK, Not France, Not Israel, Not Russia.. He signalled then loud & clear what his only priority would be in the middle east. What is it with Obama & the Palestinians?

How can we trust this President? Is he living on the same planet as the rest of us!?

There can be no trust here, these irrational demands, artificial crises, and plain and simple backstabbing behavior must be REJECTED by Israel. Obama is either trying to get our country destroyed, or bring down the government of a friendly country & ally. The majority of Israeli opinion cannot support such irrational appeasement demands just to satisfy President Obama’s Palestinian fetish, or to prop up his failing policies.

Last week the US claimed we insulted them! What was that whole Biden speech about!? Days later Obama has embarrassed Biden way more than we could have even if we had tried. Obama made Biden out to look like a liar, intent on misleading the Israeli people. I doubt that was Joe’s intentions, I believe he may have been just as blindsided as Netanyahu.

UPDATE: This gambit may not roll as ‘Chicago style’ as Obama / Axelrod want..

If we see the counter 1 , 2 punch of both Israeli domestic as well as American domestic resistance to the President’s alliance rift making games, the upper cut for Obama may be a painful one. The Administration deftly used the Friday trash cycle in the US and the Israeli shutdown Sabbath to launch their coordinated volley. But today is Monday, and Israel’s coalition has spoken..

While officials in Washington were quoted as saying that Netanyahu would have to choose between his ties with US President Barack Obama’s government and his coalition partners, ministers and MKs took steps to ensure that he would not have to make such a difficult choice.

Despite American pressure, not one of the 30 ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet has expressed support for freezing construction over the pre-1967 border in Jerusalem. A check among the five Labor ministers found that they were all in favor of continuing to build in neighborhoods like Ramat Shlomo and Gilo, where the American administration opposes building.

“The consensus in Israel supports continuing to build in Jerusalem and that’s not going to change,” a Labor minister said. [...]

On a Sunday night no less. They are not thrilled to put it mildly it would seem with the public undressing of Israel for such a politically cynical purpose, nor one coming only a week out from the annual conference to boot.

Hillary Clinton, who just finished berating Bibi for 45 minutes & Netanyahu will both be there. That will likely make the Administration look even more volatile & erratic than it already appears to onlookers everywhere, if they have to scale this back!? Biden & Clinton are both going to take huge lumps to the face it would seem for his Majesty Barack before all is said & done I think.

Smart Power!

The last key piece is American opinion, in this case fronted by their elected representatives. It is still Sunday night in America, so we will have to see how the reaction unfolds this week. I question the logic, foreign policy and thinking currently going on at the White House, in this I am most certainly not alone. Bibi, Obama, Biden, Clinton, everyone it seems comes out of this pained & bruised. Only the Palestinians benefit?? Has America become a Palestinian client state?

They call it “Smart Power” for a reason I guess, it just eludes me because I’m stupid.